


Coffeebug

by Self_Insert_Nonsense



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood, Death, F/M, Fluff, The major character death is the mc right off the bat folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26270941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Self_Insert_Nonsense/pseuds/Self_Insert_Nonsense
Summary: Dottie did not like the idea of being a ghost. The only thing she really wanted was to find who had killed her so she could relax. Relaxing, however, wasn’t going to happen when she had a certain bug loving bastard and his human friend helping her out.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Originial Female Character(s), Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

Dottie didn't remember dying. She just remembered waking up and finding a book. She was scared to open it, just from the title alone-- The Handbook for the Recently Deceased. What kind of name was that for a book?

She remembered where she was, a coffee shop. She had worked there as a barista. But the night she died was a complete blank out. She didnt even know how long it had been.

It must have been a while, considering when she stepped out from the back there were people enjoying coffee. They didn't see her. The only reason she even knew she was dead was because she had seen her own body what felt like moments ago.

Walking around and looking at the folks sitting in the shop, Dottie felt a surge of sadness. This had been such a good opportunity for her, and now it was dead, just like her.

She looked up from the old couple sitting nearby to the strange girl by herself. Her short, choppy, black hair framed her face, coated in pale makeup with dark eyeshadow and lipstick. She was staring right at Dottie.

Dottie's attention drifted to the... Person next to her. A grubby looking man thay Dottie had never seen before. He was scruffy, and green seemed to be his color of choice-- his hair was almost neon, and his striped suit had a gross, green tinge to it. She noticed his pale complexion, as well as the more inhuman traits, like sharp teeth, and wondered if he was a ghost like her.

"Hey how ya doing?" He finally asked. She opened her mouth to answer, but a scream was all that came out.

—

“Now that the screaming is over with,” the man, who Dottie now knew thanks to Lydia was named Beetlejuice, scratched his ear, “I can explain to you what happens next!”

“I don’t know if I wanna know,” Dottie muttered. She was tired, physically, emotionally, and mentally. This was the worst thing to ever happen to her.

“So since you apparently died in this little coffee shop you’re tied to it. You probably need to go to the Netherworld to figure out what to do next, luckily I’m the guy who helps people in this kind of situation!” Beetlejuice grinned. Dottie frowned and looked at the girl next to him, “Are you dead too..?”

She shook her head slightly, trying to avoid talking so she didn’t seem strange for seemingly speaking to nothing.

“Lydia is very special. Not often you find a breather that can see dead people. I think they made a movie about it once,” Beej joked. Dottie folded her arms, “Ok so she can see the dead. Well at least that means I won’t be too lonely I guess.”

“You have the handbook right?”

“The wh- oh!” Dottie ran to the back room and pulled the book up, bringing it back. Been nodded and gestured for her to open it.

“I don’t want to,” Dottie said softly. Lydia frowned in sympathy, her eyes sad.

“Open it,” Beej said. Dottie hadn’t wanted to, but she finally opened it to the table of contents.

He leaned over her shoulder, “Ok go to page 69.”

She glanced at him with a bemused expression, seeing his stupid grin. Lydia rolled her eyes as Dottie cautiously turned to the page.

“Becoming a poltergeist?” Dottie said softly. Beej grinned, “You’re mad about being dead right? And you wanna find the fucker who killed you, yeah?”

Dottie frowned. Yes, she was angry. She did want to find who did this to her. She read through the page, “To become a poltergeist I just need to really let my anger take over? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“You only gotta do it once and then you’re free to go wherever you wanna,” he explained, “Super easy, probably could scare the folks here out easy.”

She frowned again, “I don’t want to upset the patrons here... they didn’t do anything.”

“Wait till closing,” Lydia wrote down on a piece of paper, “Then no one can be around for your tantrum.”

—

When night fell, Beetlejuice returned alone, “I’m gonna help you let out your inner rage ok? I’m kind of an expert at this.”

Dottie sighed, “Ok. How do I go about this?”

Beej cracked his knuckles comically, “What’s something that pisses you off more than literally anything?”

Dottie thought for a moment, “Not knowing who killed me? Being murdered? That pisses me off pretty bad.” 

He grinned, “Ok talk about it, get angry.”

Her brows furrowed, “I was a young person who shouldn’t have been killed. Hell I had plans for my fucking future!” Her voice rose, “I had to work my way up to where I was and it got fucking dropped because some asshole decided it was a good idea to stab me! Jesus fucking Christ who the fuck just snuffs someone out like that with no rhyme or reason?!”

Objects began moving around them. Beej grinned wider, “Keep going you’re getting close to poltergeist levels.”

She let out an inhuman scream from how angry she had become. Several glass jars shattered, boxes exploded, the coffee machine up front started smoking.

Beej came out from behind some boxes, seeing she finally calmed down, “Congratulations babe you’re a poltergeist now! You’re free to roam around and do whatever you please. In this case, find your killer!”

Dottie slowly sat on the ground, looking at the mess, “You wanna know the worst part of it all?”

Beetlejuice looked at her in question. She started crying, “It took them like four days to realize I was dead. I thought these people liked me and no one thought to check and see if I was ok. No one went to my house to discover I never made it home. Hell no one even looked in the freezer I was stuffed in until a box fell over and showed my face.”

Beej felt a strange surge of sympathy. This girl reminded him of Lydia, she felt invisible like she did once... Like he did once.

He sat down next to her, awkwardly wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “Hey... who needs these losers? Wanna scare them?”

“Scare them?”

“Yeah! Leave a nasty note for them to show them how much they upset you. Or you know... write in coffee or blood or something.”

She chuckled darkly, “Wouldn’t that be funny...”

“Nothing’s stopping you, c’mon. Let’s go give these guys a fright they’ll never forget!” He stood and held his hand out. Cautiously she took it, unsure but interested.


	2. Chapter 2

“So I’ve been following my murder investigation and it’s the absolute weirdest experience I’ve had thus far,” Dottie said as she placed her head in her hands.

Lydia frowned, “I bet. Nothing worse than finding out your death was a murder, I’d think.”

Dottie nodded. She had nowhere to go, the coffee shop had been the only place she really knew in the town, so Lydia had offered to let her hang around her so she had someone other than beetlejuice to talk to.

Dottie was very grateful for that. Beetlejuice may have helped her break ties so she wouldn’t be literally stuck at the last place she was before she died, but he was... Dottie wanted to be polite and say gross.

He was definitely an enigma for sure. He claimed to be a “demon turned human turned ghost,” but still had some of his powers. Dottie had to ask for clarification on how he went from demon to human to ghost and learned that technically beetlejuice and lydia were married. It threw her off because of Lydia clearly being under 18, but they both explained it was more like a contract than anything, and Beej had been adamant that he wanted nothing romantic from it. He had just wanted to be human.

Still, it was weird to her and she tried to avoid thinking about it when she could. She was grateful for once, that she was dead and couldn’t turn a demon human through marriage.

“Earth to Kansas,” Beej’s gravelly voice broke Dottie from her thoughts, “You thinking about something you wanna share with us?”

“I was thinking about how weird you are. And don’t call me Kansas,” she spat.

He grinned, “Oh I’m so sorry Dorothy, but when I learned that was your real name I just couldn’t resist!”

She rolled her eyes, “Lydia said Beetlejuice is your middle name, what’s your first name? Something boring like Tom or Bob?”

“Oh I have no shame, it’s Lawrence.”

“... Really? Not what I expected if I’m honest.”

He laughed, floating into the air. She watched him for a moment, then said, “Do I get any cool abilities like that?”

“Oh sure. You’re a poltergeist now so you get some extra cool powers. You’re basically...,” he counted in his fingers, “Three steps from basically being a demon turned human turned ghost like me.”

“How do I get there?”

“You work your way up so you become a demon, get some poor sap to marry you and make you human again, and then they kill you. It’s easy.”

“How do I work my way up?”

“By fuc- Ow!” He was cut off by Lydia elbowing him in the gut, “Don’t take his advice I’m begging you.”

Dottie just laughed.

—

Listening at the officers talked quietly, Dottie glanced behind her. Her old boss was there, looking both frazzled and depressed. He had probably been one of the few people to genuinely care about her at that damn job.

“So you found her body in your freezer?” An officer asked. Her boss nodded, “She looked like she had been moved there. Someone killed her and then moved her... but I can’t figure out why.”

“How long did she work for you?”

“Not long. A few months. She was a hard worker, though. It’s awful what happened and I still don’t think I should have the shop open yet...,” he sighed, “But my son had been taking over the work more and he felt it would be a good idea.”

“Oh that bastard,” Dottie muttered. Her boss’ son was a piece of work, always thinking he was better than this small town. Maybe he did it. He didn’t like her, she was pretty sure.

“I think he’s just trying to cover up how sad he was. He had a crush on Dottie.”

“Ew what?” Dottie asked incredulously, remembering no one would answer. She left the room, phasing through the door and almost running into Beetlejuice.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She asked. He shrugged and grinned, “Thought I’d see how you were doing so I followed you. Tough luck with the one dude having a thing for you. You clearly weren’t interested.”

“Ugh he was the worst dude. He was always creepy toward the female employees. And he just... I never got good vibes from him, you know?” Dottie sighed, “Maybe he killed me because he tried to ask me out and I told him to fuck off?”

“Why don’t we go find out?” Beej grinned menacingly. She raised an eyebrow.

“How?”

“I’ll teach you how to scare a breather. Since you’re a poltergeist and therefore stronger than a normal ghost, it’ll be a cinch for you.”

He grabbed her and twirled her, pulling her close, “Trust me babe, I know what I’m talking about.”

She nodded, pushing herself away from him, “Alright Mr. Bio-Exorcist, show me what to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> I got hit with inspiration and I’m revamping this story to make it more interesting and have an actual plot lmao. Also I’m making some of this up as I go but hey whatever lol. Based off musical beetlejuice cuz he’s my fave iteration


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